


The Return

by Hilaryh90



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:00:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22625197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hilaryh90/pseuds/Hilaryh90
Summary: We are now in the third story of Jenna's life. If you are just joining now I suggest you read Lost in Time and A New World first. Happy reading :)
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**The Return**   
**A/N: Here we go, The Winter Soldier. There will be something interesting in this story but don't hate me for it.**

"What did you think?" I asked Steve as we finished watching the movie I picked out.

"It was...interesting."

I turned and faced him, "You hated it."

"No, no I didn't hate it, it's just..." He started to say

"Admit it."

He sighs and I raised an eyebrow at him, "I did, but not all of it."

"Let me guess," I said standing up, "You liked the action parts." 

He stood up too helping me clean up, "Yeah." He says and I laughed walking into the kitchen putting the cups in the sink and he dumped the remaining popcorn in the trash then walked over setting it in the sink as I faced him

"Just like a man, only want movies with car crashes and explosions." I told him and he looked at me.

"Well I was in the war, can you blame me?" He asked and I moved closer to him

"No, but you gotta expand your horizons."

"I'm trying." He said, I smiled then leaned up kissing him. Yes I know what you're gonna say. What?? You're kissing Steve? Your deceased boyfriends best friend? Yes, I am. Two people living in the same place for so long things happen. I'll be honest with you though, we both aren't fully into it. He stills loves Peggy, just like I still love Bucky. 

"We should get some sleep." I told him as we pulled away

"Yeah. We should." 

I walked away hearing him follow and stopped at my bedroom door, "Night Steve." 

"Night Jenna." He said and I walked into my room closing the door behind me. Yes, it's weird, and a part of me feels like I'm betraying Bucky somehow, but like I said things happen.

* * *

"Steve?" I asked walking into the apartment setting my keys down when my phone went off. I pulled it out reading the message.

Have a mission, shouldn't be long. Don't wait up.

I sighed then headed to my room grabbing a change of clothes then showered, I also got back from a mission but mine was an easy one. When I finished I got dressed, went to the fridge pulling out the left over Chinese, warmed it up then enjoyed some TV while I ate then eventually went to bed.

* * *

"Hello?" I asked answering my phone as I walked out of the gas station late at night after returning from another mission.

"Jenna. I need you to get to the hospital. Something happened to Fury." Steve told me over the phone and I hung up walking to my car then drove off.

* * *

"Steve?" I asked walking over to him as he looked into the observation room, I looked in too seeing Nick laying on the operating table, "What happened?" 

"There was a man, shot him at the apartment."

"What?" I asked then Nat walked over to us.

"Is he gonna make it?" She asked him

"I don't know."

"Tell me about the shooter. " I told Steve not taking my eyes off Nick

"He's fast and strong. Had a metal arm." 

"Ballistics?" I heard Nat ask and I see Hill standing there.

"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable." 

"Soviet-made." Nat pointed out

"Yeah."

Suddenly we watch as Nick's state deteriorates, "He's in V-tach." A nurse says and they all rush around him as I placed my hand on Steve's.

"Don't do this to me, Nick." Nat whispered

"Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!" Nick is given a shock with the defibrillator, "Pulse?"

"No pulse."

"Okay. 200, please. Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!" The doctor shocks him again but nothing happened, "Give me epinephrine! Pulse?"

"Negative."

"Don't do this to me, Nick. Don't do this to me." Nat whispered again. We stand there as Nick continued to flat line and Steve turned away

"What's the time?" The doctor asked

"1:03, Doctor."

"Time of death, 1:03 a.m." The doctor says and I close my eyes

* * *

Me, Nat and Steve stand in the room Nick's body was in, Nat was next to the bed while me and Steve stood by the wall. I felt Steve take a hold of my hand but I continued to look at Nick then Hill walked in and I let go of Steve's hand. We figured it would be best if no one knew.

"I need to take him." Hill says and Steve goes over to Nat

"Natasha." He says but she doesn't respond, instead she tenderly touches Fury's head then turns and walks out, Steve follows her then I do but Hill stopped me

"Did you do it?" She asked me and I nodded then left the room.

"Why was Fury in your apartment?" I heard Nat ask Steve as I walked over to them

"I don't know." 

"Cap, they want you back at SHIELD." Rumlow told him walking over

"Yeah, give me a second."

"They want you now." Rumlow says

"Okay." Steve said and turns to Nat

"You're a terrible liar." She tells him and walked off

"I'll talk to her." I said and started to walk

"Are you okay?" He asked me and I looked at him

"I have to be." I told him and followed Nat.

* * *

**Steve POV...**

I make my way to the vending machine that I hid the flash drive in but when I looked it was gone. I see Natasha appear behind me chewing some gum.

* * *

"Where is it?" I asked her bringing her into a room

"Safe." 

"Do better!" I told her

"Where did you get it?" 

"Why would I tell you?" I asked her

"Fury gave it to you. Why?" 

"What's on it?" I asked

"I don't know." 

"Stop lying!" I yelled

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers."

"I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?" I asked her 

"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you."

"I'm not gonna ask you again." I told her 

"I know who killed Fury. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."

"So he's a ghost story." I point out 

"Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me." She pulls up her shirt to show me the scar on the side of her stomach, "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis."

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now." I tell her and there's a hit of a smile 

"Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." Natasha holds up the flash drive, "Like you said, he's a ghost story." She says and I take the flash drive from her

"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants." 

"Should we call Jenna?" She asked me 

"Not yet. I don't want to call her until we have to." I told her and we walked out of the room. I felt guilty, I was in a...complicated relationship with my dead best friends girl. I think she knows that no matter what, I'll always love Peggy, just like I know she stills loves Bucky.

* * *

"First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk." Natasha tells me as we walk through the mall

"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." I pointed out and we go into a Mac store to use one of their computers

"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are." Natasha pointed out

"How much time do we have?"

"Uh...about nine minutes from..." she pops the flash drive into a computer, "Now." She said and we look at the computer, "Fury was right about that ship, somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."

"Can you override it?" I asked her 

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly. I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from." 

"Can I help you guys with anything?" We heard a man ask and I see an employee standing there. 

"Oh, no. My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations." Natasha says putting her arm around me 

"Right! We're getting married." 

"Congratulations. Where do you guys thinking about going?" The employee asked and I look at the monitor seeing the signal get traced to somewhere in New Jersey

"New Jersey."

"Oh." The employee looks at me for a moment, "I have the exact same glasses." 

"Wow, you two are practically twins." Natasha says with sarcasm 

"Yeah, I wish. Specimen. Uh...if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." The employee tells me and I gave him a smile

"Thank you." I said and he walked away, "You said nine minutes, come on." I tell Natasha 

"Shh, relax. Got it." She says and I see the signal is coming from Wheaton, NJ, "You know it?" She asked me

"I used to. Let's go." I said and pulled the flash drive from the computer then we walk out of the store, "Standard tac-team. Two behind, to across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro." I tell her

"Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." 

"What?" I asked her 

"Do it!" She says and I quickly put my arm around her and laughed then we headed to the escalator heading down then Natasha faced me, "Kiss me." 

"What?" 

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable." She pointed out 

"Yes, they do." I said and she quickly pulls my head down and kisses me. I shouldn't be doing it because of Jenna, but then again Natasha doesn't know.

"You still uncomfortable?" She asked me as we walk down the escalator the rest of the way 

"It's not exactly the word I would use."

* * *

"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Natasha asked me as she sat in the passenger seat of the truck I was driving. 

"Nazi Germany. And we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash." I told her and Natasha takes her feet off the dash

"Alright, I have a question for you, oh, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?"

"What?" I asked her

"Was that your first kiss since 1945?" 

"That bad, huh?" I asked 

"I didn't say that."

"Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying." I point out

"No, I didn't. I just wondered how much practice you've had."

"You don't need practice." I said

"Everybody needs practice." 

"It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety-five, I'm not dead." I tell her 

"Nobody special, though?" 

"Believe it or not there is someone." I said looking forward.

"Oh? Who would that be?"

I sighed and glanced at her, "It's Jenna."

"Really?" She asked and I saw the smirk on her face, "How did that happen?" 

"It just happened." I said and she chuckled, "We wanted to keep it a secret though."

"Well the truth is a matter of circumstances, it's not all things to all people all the time. And neither am I."

"That's a tough way to live." I said

"It's a good way not to die, though."

"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is." I mentioned

"Yeah. Who do you want me to be?" 

"How about a friend?" I asked and Natasha laughs softly

"Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers." 

* * *

**Jenna POV...**

"Steve? Where the hell are you?" I asked walking over to my bike leaving the SHIELD building.

"I'm gonna send you an address then destroy your phone." He says then hung up. Then it beeps. I read message then dropped the phone, stepping on it then left


	2. The Return chapter 2

**The Return**

I knocked on the door that Steve sent me and a man I didn't know opened it, "Jenna?" He asked and I nodded then he moved aside. I saw Nat sitting at the table then Steve walked over to me.

"Were you followed?"

"It hurts me that you have to ask that." I told him 

"I'm sorry. It's been a long day." He says and I see Nat give me a look

"What?" I asked her and Steve sighed

"She knows." He told me and I looked at him, "About us." He says and I looked back at Nat.

"Ah." I said and he sat down.

"By the way, Jenna this is Sam Wilson, Sam this is Jenna Keller. She's from my time." 

"Nice to meet you." I told Sam and we shook hands.

"Likewise." 

* * *

"So, the question is: who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" Nat asked after her and Steve caught me up 

"Pierce." Steve says

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world." I point out

"But he's not working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." Steve said 

"So was Jasper Sitwell." Nat says

"So, the real question is: how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" Steve asked 

"The answer is: you don't." Sam told him and drops a file in front of Steve

"What's this?" 

"Call it a resume." Sam said and Nat picks up a photo of Sam.

"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you." She says and I look at the photo, "You didn't say he was a para-rescue." 

"Is this Riley?" Steve asked him 

"Yeah."

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?" Nat asked Sam 

"No. These." He hands Steve the file, Steve opens it and reads it

"I thought you said you were a pilot." Steve told him

"I never said pilot."

"I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason." Steve says

"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in." 

"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" I asked him 

"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall." Sam says and Steve looks at me and Nat

"Shouldn't be a problem." Steve tells him

"At least give me a challenge." I add and Sam looked at me confused, "He doesn't know?" I asked Steve

"Jenna has the same serum I do except the one she got allows her to heal."

"Heal how?" Sam asked and I pulled out my knife cutting my hand then held it up and he watched in shock as it healed, "Cool."

* * *

Steve throws Sitwell across a rooftop while me and Nat follow him, "Tell me about Zola's algorithm." 

"Never heard of it."

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Steve asked him

"I was throwing up, I get seasick." Steve forces Sitwell to the edge of the rooftop but Sitwell just smiles, "Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers."

"You're right. It's not. It's hers." Steve said and moved then Nat kicks Sitwell over the edge

"So how did this whole thing happen?" Nat asked looking at us and I sighed.

"It just did." I tell her and suddenly, Sam flies up holding Sitwell and throws him down on the roof then we walk over to him

"Zola's algorithm is a program...for choosing Insight's targets!"

"What targets?" Steve asked 

"You two." He indicates to me and Steve, "A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa city. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future."

"The Future? How could it know?" I asked him and Sitwell laughs

"How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future."

"And what then?" Steve asked

"Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me." 

"What then?!" I asked him 

"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time."

* * *

"HYDRA doesn't like leaks." Sitwell tells us as Sam drives his car with me, nat and Sitwell sitting in the back seat.

"So why don't you try sticking a cork in it." Sam says

"Insight's launching in sixteen hours, we're cutting it a little bit close here." Nat pointed out

"I know. We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarriers directly." Steve said

"What?! Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea." Sitwell said then suddenly something lands on the car roof, pulls Sitwell out through the window and throws him into the oncoming traffic, killing him. Bullets start flying through the roof and I move up to Steve as Nat ducked out of the way then Steve pulls the break handle making the Winter Soldier drop down onto the street. He stands up and I aim my gun to the window but a truck smashes into our car and the Winter Soldier jumps back onto it smashing its arm through the windscreen and pulls out the steering wheel

"Shit!" Sam yelled then both me and Nat start shooting at him but the Winter Soldier jumps onto the vehicle behind us as our car goes out of control

"Natasha move up to Sam!" Steve told her and she does so then he grabs his shield putting it to the door, "Hang on!" He yells and I grab onto Nat as he grabs Sam then breaks open the door and we slide on the car door through the streets. I ended up rolling off with Sam then got up ducking behind some cars with Sam and see the Winter Soldier fire a grenade at Nat and Steve. Steve holds up his shield getting knocked away then me and Nat begin firing at him and the other agents. A car blows up next to Nat and I jump over the side of the bridge landing on a car joining her behind a truck and we continue shooting.

"We need to move!" She says and I see a fire extinguisher on the truck I'm next to. I take out my knife stabbing it then we ran as the spray from it gave us cover.

"We need a distraction. You go that way and create one using your phone. I'll take him out when he comes close." I told her and she nodded as we split up. I stayed hidden in my spot until I heard an explosion then climbed up the car I was behind and jumped onto the Winter Soldier knocking his gun away then got on his shoulders pulling out a wire to strangle him but he throws me off then aims his gun at me, "Nat!" I yelled and she tosses an electrocution disk at his metal arm giving us the chance to run

"Get out of the way! Stay out of the way!" Nat yells as I run in a different direction then hear a gun shot go off. I see the soldier jump onto a car behind Nat and I fling myself up taking him to the ground then stood up. I went to kick him but he caught my foot, I pushed with my other one flipping up in the air kicking him then landed but before I could react he kicked me in the gut and I crashed though the windows of the car behind me.

"Dick move." I mumbled as glass fell from my wounds then I moved over to Nat taking off my coat then put it to her wound, "Hold that there." I told her then rushed back over to Steve after seeing the soldier stand up then faced us. When he did, my heart stopped. 

"Bucky?" Steve asked as I stood there in shock

"Who the hell is Bucky?" He asked and aimed his gun at us but then Sam flew down and knocked him into a car. Bucky aimed at us again but before he can shoot me and Steve ducked as a grenade flies past us and I see that Bucky was gone now. I hear sirens get close to us and I still look at the spot.

"Steve th-that was..."

"I know." He says

"H-How was that..." 

"I don't know." He tells me and we get surrounded by the Strike force.

"Drop the shield, Cap! On your knees! Get on your knees!" Rumlow yells and we get down on our knees holding our hands up, "Now! Get down! Get down! Don't move." He says and one of the members puts my hands behind my back, "Put the gun down. Not here. Not here!"

How is he alive?


	3. The Return chapter 3

**The Return**

"It was him. He looked right at me like he didn't even know me." Steve says as we sit in the back of the transport van and I just stared at the floor. I was feeling confused and angry

"How's that even possible? It was like seventy years ago." Sam mentioned 

"Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43, Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and..." I started to say

"None of that's your fault. Either of yours." Nat tried to reassure us.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky." Steve said and I swallowed the lump in my throat. 

"We need to get a doctor here. We don't put pressure on that wound she's gonna bleed out here in the truck." I heard Sam say and I looked up as the guard pulls out an electric rod and neutralizes the other guard then knocks him out. The guard takes of it's helmet and we see Hill sitting there

"Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain." She says then looked at Sam, "Who's this guy?" 

* * *

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint." Hill says as we walk through the hall of a dam and a man ran to us

"Maybe two." Sam adds 

"Let me take her."

"She'll want to see him first." Hill says and she brings us into a room where we see Nick laying on a bed.

"About damn time."

* * *

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a headache." Nick tells us

"Don't forget your collapsed lung." The doctor tells him

"Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good. Thanks to you Keller." He says and the others look at me

"What does he mean?" Steve asked me

"Hill called me after he got ambushed the first time. We figured he was the next target so I...I gave her some of my blood. We had a theory that if the serum running through my blood could heal me, then maybe it could heal someone else." I told them and I saw the disappointed look on Steve's face.

"They cut you open, your heart stopped. How is that possible?" Nat asked.

"Since Nick isn't genetically enhanced like I am it took a while for it to work in his system, hence why he's still recovering." I pointed out

"I also used Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it." Nick adds

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asked

"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful." Hill pointed out

"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust."

* * *

"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said, "Peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility." See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues." Nick tells us looking at an old picture of Pierce

"We have to stop the launch." Nat mentioned

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore." Nick opens a case containing three chips

"What's that?" Sam asked him

"Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized." Hill tells us 

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own." Nick added

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational a whole lot of people are gonna die." Hill says

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We need to get pass them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left..." Nick began to say 

"We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down SHIELD." Steve told him

"SHIELD had nothing to do with it." 

"You gave me this mission, this is how it ends. SHIELD's been compromised, you said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed." Steve said

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed." 

"And how many paid the price before you did?" I asked him 

"Look, I didn't know about Barnes."

"Even if you have, would you have told me or Steve? Or would you have compartmentalized that too? SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes." I said and walked out of the room heading outside.

* * *

_"I love you Jenna." He said and I looked at him, "I never thought I would be able to love someone but I do. I love you."_

_I smiled putting the chains around my neck then kissed him, "I love you too Bucky."_

I stood there looking over the dam holding Bucky's dog tags remembering that day when I hear foot steps walking up to me, "Want company?" I heard Steve asked and I sighed

"When you told me he fell from that train, that it wasn't possible that he survived, I felt my world stop. Now he's here, being used as HYDRA's tool and he doesn't remember who we are."

"I know." He says and I wiped my eyes, "Jenna, about..about us.."

"Steve, come on let's face it." I said looking at him, "We both had one foot in this relationship and one foot out. Neither of us were fully committed." I told him and he nodded

"You're right, I thought maybe if we tried..."

"We were both holding onto the past Steve. It's okay, we did try, it just wasn't suppose to happen." I tell him and he smiled.

"So we're good?" 

"We're good." I told him and he pulled me into a hug, "We have to save him Steve." I said 

"We will. I promise." He says and someone walked up to us, I see Sam coming over.

"He's gonna be there, you know?" Sam says referring to Bucky 

"I know."

"Look, whoever he used to be, the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save. He's the kind you stop." Sam said

"I don't know if we can do that." 

"Well, he might not give you a choice. He doesn't know you two." Sam pointed out

"He will, we're not giving up." I said and Steve nodded at me

"Gear up, it's time. Let's go." He tells me and we walk away 

"You gonna wear that?" Sam asked him

"No. If you're gonna fight a war, you gotta wear a uniform."

* * *

"I want you with Fury." Steve tells me after we get ready

"What? But Steve..." 

"He's gonna need the back up, Natasha already has her part, please Jenna." He says and I sighed.

"Alright. Be careful, and try to save him."

"I will." He said and I buttoned up the coat I was wearing, "I still don't know why you took that." He tells me referring to the jacket I took off of the mannequin in front of Bucky's old war picture.

"I wanna keep a piece of him with me besides his tags." 


	4. The Return chapter 4

**The Return**

  
"Ready?" Nick asked me as the helicopter landed on the roof 

"Born ready sir." I said and we got out walking to the building and he stepped in first then I followed.

"Did you get my flowers?" Pierce asked him and I Nick kept quiet, "I'm glad you're here, Nick."

"Really? Cause I thought you had me killed." 

"You know how the game works." Pierce told him then looked at me, "Miss Keller, that's a nice jacket."

"I'd be very careful what you say to me, because I'm not above putting a bullet through your skull for what you did to him."

"What happened to Fury was..." He started to say

"I wasn't talking about Nick. I'm talking about Bucky."

"Ah, him." He says

"Yeah, him." 

"You know I wasn't the one to do it to him in the first place." He tells me

"True but the others are long gone so I have to blame someone." 

"Keller, stand down." Nick told me but I kept my eyes on Pierce, "If this was your plan then why make me head of SHIELD?"

"Cause you were the best and the most ruthless person I ever met." Pierce said 

"I did what I did to protect people."

"Our enemies are your enemies, Nick. Disorder, war. It's just a matter of time before a dirty bomb goes off in Moscow, or an EMP fries Chicago. Diplomacy? Holding action, a band-aid. And you know where I learned that; Bogota. You didn't ask, you just did what had to be done. I can bring order to the lives of seven billion people by sacrificing twenty million. It's the next step, Nick, if you have the courage to take it." Pierce tells him

"No, I have the courage not to." Nick said and nodded to me, I grabbed Pierce by the back of his suit bringing him to the retinal scanner with Nat pointing her gun at him  
Retinal scanner active. 

"You don't you think we wiped your clearance from the system?" Pierce asked

"I know you erased my password, probably deleted my retinal scan, but if you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary..." Nick removes his eye-patch to reveal his scarred dead eye, "You need to keep both eyes open." They both look into the retinal scanner with Fury using his dead eye

Alpha Level confirmed. Encryption code accepted. Safeguards removed. 

* * *

"Done." Nat says looking at her phone, "And it's trending." Just then Pierce hits a button and the council members get shocked by the pins they were wearing. , Nick and Nat raise our guns at him.

"Unless you want two inch hole in your sternum, I'd put that gun down. That was armed the moment you pinned it on." Pierce told her and we put our guns down.

* * *

"What a waste." Pierce says as we watch the helicarriers shoot at each other 

"Are you still on the fence about Rogers' chances?" Nat asked him

"Time to go, Councilwoman. This way, come on. You're gonna fly me out of here." Pierce tells her and they start to leave.

"You know, there was a time I would have taken a bullet for you." Nick told him 

"You already did. You will again when it's useful." He says then Natasha activates a small disc that emits an electric shock through her whole body and fell down giving Fury a chance to shoot Pierce twice and he falls through the glass screen. Nick goes over to Nat as I walked over to Pierce.

"I told you I wasn't above putting a bullet in your head." I said then aimed my gun at him

"Hail HYDRA." He groaned out and I shot him in the skull.

* * *

"Please, tell me you got that chopper in the air!" Sam says over our radios as Nick flies the helicopter. 

"Sam, where are you?" I asked him 

"41st floor, north-west corner!" 

"We're on it, stay where you are." Nat told him

"Not an option!" He yells and as the building is being destroyed I see Sam jump out of the window as Nick flies the chopper over then tipped as Sam fell in and I caught him before he could fall out then pulled him, "41st floor! 41st!"

"It's not like they put the floor numbers on the outside of the building!" Nick says 

"Hill, where's Steve? You got a location on him?" I asked as we watched everything get destroyed. 

* * *

"How are you feeling?" I asked Steve standing in the door way of his hospital room and he looked at me

"Kind of wishing my body could heal itself." He says and I chuckled, "Going somewhere?" He asked indicating to my bag.

"Uh yeah. I'm uh..I'm gonna try and find him." 

"Think you can?" He asked

"You doubt me?" 

"Not at all, but what do you think's gonna happen when you do?" He asked and I sighed

"I'm not sure. I guess I'll find out when it happens."

"Well, be safe, and if you need backup..." He started to say

"I'll give you a call." 

"Good." He said and I walked over the bed giving him a gentle hug which he returned.

"You take care of yourself." I told him

"I will."

"Same goes for you," I said standing up, "If you need help just call me." 

"Will do." He says and I gave him a smile then grabbed my bag and walked out. I was determined to find him. No matter what.


End file.
